Welfare Reform Act of 1996...

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Strongly disapprove.  The victims of the owning class were further abused by the political power of the priviledged.

The shabbiest part was the support for this violence against those at the bottom of the heirarchy by their fellow working-class members - the hubris filled fools who have, for the moment, jobs.

Your hero signed it, Opee.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Also known as the "Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996."

Congress did a lot of fascist things in 1996, and this is one of them.

This law must be repealed.

I don't know what people are supposed to do if they work and still need welfare, and their 5-year limit has run out.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Dick Morris, Clinton's principal political advisor at the time, claims to have told him, "sign and you win, veto and you lose."

Dick Morris was an idiot.

A more accurate statement would be "sign and you win; veto and you win by more."

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Individuals need three years to find a job? That's an absurdly long amount of time.

Ever been to Kentucky? Three years isn't long enough. About 25 years would be more like it.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Was the person who posted that on DU banned?

One can hope.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

He used the popular aspects of the Contract With America, and popular aspects of the Republican party platform,

What popular aspects?

[Bandit3 the Worker]

It is absurd to blame the poor and powerless for this violence that has been committed upon them.

Yet conservatives continue to blame them anyway.

But then again, conservatives are pretty absurd, so I guess we shouldn't be surprised when they do and say absurd things.

[Max Power]

Also known as the "Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996."

Congress did a lot of fascist things in 1996, and this is one of them.

This law must be repealed.

LOL!!!11

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

DU has a range of people. Some people are too moderate. On the other extreme, I pointed out that someone's statistics were wrong, some exit poll probability was like 1 in 100 million, not 1 in 5 billion. Someone got mad at me for that. So I suppose the left does include some unreasonable people, too.

[opebo]

Strongly disapprove.  The victims of the owning class were further abused by the political power of the priviledged.

The shabbiest part was the support for this violence against those at the bottom of the heirarchy by their fellow working-class members - the hubris filled fools who have, for the moment, jobs.

Your hero signed it, Opee.

I've never expressed a fondness for Clinton, G3pp.  In fact I have always considered him to be a Rockefeller Republican.  Certainly better than the modern Religious Party of Reagan and GW.Bush, but still, on the whole, a bad president, and certainly very bad for the working class.

[© tweed]

He used the popular aspects of the Contract With America, and popular aspects of the Republican party platform,

What popular aspects?

The things that led to the GOP landslide in 1994.  Tax cuts, welfare reform, etc.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

The things that led to the GOP landslide in 1994.  Tax cuts, welfare reform, etc.

What tax cuts? I paid much more in taxes in 1998 than in 1994.

[opebo]

The things that led to the GOP landslide in 1994.  Tax cuts, welfare reform, etc.

What tax cuts? I paid much more in taxes in 1998 than in 1994.

For the rich, Bandit, for the rich.  The economic constituency of the Religious Party.

[A18]

There was a capital gains tax cut, a child tax credit, and some new deductions.

[opebo]

There was a capital gains tax cut, a child tax credit, and some new deductions.

Yes, enormous cuts for the owning class, minor window dressing for others.

[TeePee4Prez]

Individuals need three years to find a job? That's an absurdly long amount of time.

In any event, help, whether for three days or for three years, should be provided by private charities funded by voluntary contributions, not governments.

Many of these people have no practical training, no work ethic, nothing.  And they are saddled with children they never should have had, at too young an age.  You cannot pay for child care with an entry level salary.

More people need to learn to do things in the right order.  First education, then marriage, then children.  Not children first, then maybe education and marriage later, if at all.  The poor are usually people who did things in the wrong order.

I actually strongly approve of Clinton's Welfare Reform.  And you are right about the order in which things are supposed to be done.  However this economy is so bad that even if you do that, you're still in trouble as in my case.  I would not support any further welfare reform measures except say some Section 8 restrictions.

[dazzleman]

Individuals need three years to find a job? That's an absurdly long amount of time.

In any event, help, whether for three days or for three years, should be provided by private charities funded by voluntary contributions, not governments.

Many of these people have no practical training, no work ethic, nothing.  And they are saddled with children they never should have had, at too young an age.  You cannot pay for child care with an entry level salary.

More people need to learn to do things in the right order.  First education, then marriage, then children.  Not children first, then maybe education and marriage later, if at all.  The poor are usually people who did things in the wrong order.

I actually strongly approve of Clinton's Welfare Reform.  And you are right about the order in which things are supposed to be done.  However this economy is so bad that even if you do that, you're still in trouble as in my case.  I would not support any further welfare reform measures except say some Section 8 restrictions.

I really don't know what makes you think this economy is so bad.  At my company, we have to increase pay to hold onto qualified people because so many people are looking to hire them away from us.  Of course, if a person has no qualifications, he/she will always have trouble finding a job, but that has nothing to do with the economy.

If you think the economy is really bad right now, you're buying into too much Democratic propaganda.  Your problem right now is that you don't earn enough to afford decent housing where you live, but that is not necessarily a sign of a bad economy.  It means you must reposition yourself within that economy, something that you have more than enough training, qualifications and intelligence to do.

[nclib]

Strongly Disapprove. Implies that the poor don't work hard.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

While we're on the subject, people, is there any hope that this law might not be reauthorized, if the Democrats retake control of Congress?

Or are the Democrats going to continue to let themselves be bullied like they've been for the past 10 years?

[John Dibble]

Strongly Disapprove. Implies that the poor don't work hard.

Some poor people don't work hard, and that's the problem - there was a sufficient number taking advantage of the system solely for the purpose of avoiding work. Reform probably wouldn't have happened if such people didn't exist.

[opebo]

Strongly Disapprove. Implies that the poor don't work hard.

Some poor people don't work hard, and that's the problem - there was a sufficient number taking advantage of the system solely for the purpose of avoiding work. Reform probably wouldn't have happened if such people didn't exist.

No, it wouldn't have happened if people like you dind't imagine that they exist.  Of course most American workers have no understanding of economics, and fail to recogize the commonality of their interests with those of the poor.  Their most pathetic intellectual failure is that they see a leisured rich as perfectly acceptable, while a miserable unemployed fellow-worker scraping by on welfare is seen as the enemy.

[John Dibble]

Strongly Disapprove. Implies that the poor don't work hard.

Some poor people don't work hard, and that's the problem - there was a sufficient number taking advantage of the system solely for the purpose of avoiding work. Reform probably wouldn't have happened if such people didn't exist.

No, it wouldn't have happened if people like you dind't imagine that they exist.  Of course most American workers have no understanding of economics, and fail to recogize the commonality of their interests with those of the poor.  Their most pathetic intellectual failure is that they see a leisured rich as perfectly acceptable, while a miserable unemployed fellow-worker scraping by on welfare is seen as the enemy.

1. You're hardly one to be talking about other's understanding of economics and intellectual failures.

2. Such people DO exist. Don't believe me? Look in a mirror. They're like you - they leech off of others because they're lazy and they can get way with it, but they don't have rich parents. Instead they leech off the government. I have SEEN these kinds of people, I have SEEN them be offered jobs at a decent wage when they didn't have one, but they flat out refused them because they could get away with leeching off of the government through welfare instead. Unless I was hallucinating, such people are real.

[opebo]

I have SEEN these kinds of people, I have SEEN them be offered jobs at a decent wage...

What do you consider a 'decent wage'?

[John Dibble]

I have SEEN these kinds of people, I have SEEN them be offered jobs at a decent wage...

What do you consider a 'decent wage'?

Initially $10/hr, with a high chance of a raise to $15/hr within the year if they proved themselves good workers.

[opebo]

I have SEEN these kinds of people, I have SEEN them be offered jobs at a decent wage...

What do you consider a 'decent wage'?

Initially $10/hr, with a high chance of a raise to $15/hr within the year if they proved themselves good workers.

Hmm.  I suppose in rural Georgia that would be more or less livable.  But why would anyone offer jobs to such people, when they could simply hire more 'mainstream' workers instead?  What was the catch?  Was it working in the chicken-slaughterhouse or something like that?